The Official Science Thread

Originally Posted by cowmoo32

Nothing to see here, just a massive shot of M83

Not quite as massive, but here are shots I took in my backyard:

www.gil-galad.com

Gil-Galad is an elf from Tolkien's world whose name means "star light."

I've browsed through your site before and I would love to have your setup. I still have an old Meade 4 or 6" telescope that I got when I was a kid but it's a toy compared to what you've got.


I'm having trouble understanding how the asteroid can take this path across the sky
http://earthsky.org/space/latest-ima...roid-2005-yu55

Originally Posted by cowmoo32

Good point. Humans are social creatures, though. Where would we be without our ability to communicate? If austism is the next step in evolution I think Aspergers is where we're headed. Looking at it from a purely evolutionary standpoint, a highly functioning autistic is more advantageous than a socially inept autistic.

Or maybe indigo humans are the next step

Completely off topic but Puscifer is coming to Atlanta next month.

Tweaking a gene makes muscles twice as strong

Go to the gym to build muscle?


A team of researchers at EPFL, the University of Lausanne and the Salk Institute created super strong, marathon mice and nematodes by reducing the function of a natural inhibitor, suggesting treatments for age-related or genetically caused muscle degeneration are within reach.

It turns out that a tiny inhibitor may be responsible for how strong and powerful our muscles can be. This is the surprising conclusion reached by scientists in EPFL's Laboratory of Integrative Systems Physiology (LISP), in collaboration with a group in the Center for Integrative Genomics at the University of Lausanne and at the Salk Institute in California. By acting on a receptor (NCoR1), they were able to modulate the transcription of certain genes, creating a strain of mighty mice whose muscles were twice a strong as those of normal mice.

Two protein-building regulators

The process of transcription, in which proteins are manufactured by an organism in response to instructions contained in its DNA, is modulated by co-factors. These either favor (coactivators) or inhibit (corepressors) transcription, in principle by responding to the concentration of certain hormones in the body, which are in turn associated with the organism's environment.

In an article appearing today in the journal Cell, a team led by EPFL professor Johan Auwerx reports on the results of experiments done in parallel on mice and nematodes. By genetically manipulating the offspring of these species, the researchers were able to suppress the NCoR1 corepressor, which normally acts to inhibit the buildup of muscle tissues.

Better muscles
In the absence of the inhibitor, the muscle tissue developed much more effectively. The mice with the mutation became true marathoners, capable of running faster and longer before showing any signs of fatigue. In fact, they were able to cover almost twice the distance run by mice that hadn't received the treatment. They also exhibited better cold tolerance.
Unlike previous experiments with so-called super mice, this study addresses the way energy is burned in the muscle and the way the muscle is built. Examination under a microscope confirmed that the muscle fibers of the modified mice are denser, the muscles are more massive, and the cells in the tissue contain higher numbers of mitochondria--cellular organelles that deliver energy to the muscles.

Similar results were also observed in nematode worms, allowing the scientists to conclude that their results could be applicable to a large range of living creatures.

Obese but not diabetic
According to a second article published in the same journal and also involving EPFL's LISP Laboratory, suppressing the NCoR1 receptor in adipose tissues (fat) also led to interesting results. By acting on this corepressor, it was possible to fundamentally change the corpulence of the mice being studied without inducing weight-related diseases. "The specimens that became obese via this treatment did not suffer from diabetes, unlike mice who become obese for other reasons," notes Auwerx.
The scientists have not yet detected any deleterious side effects associated with eliminating the NCoR1 receptor from muscle and fat tissues, and although the experiments involved genetic manipulations, the researchers are already investigating potential drug molecules that could be used to reduce the receptor's effectiveness.

Treating degeneration
The researchers say their results are a milestone in our understanding of certain fundamental mechanisms of living organisms, in particular the little-studied role of corepressors. In addition, they give a glimpse at possible long-term therapeutic applications. "This could be used to combat muscle weakness in the elderly, which leads to falls and contributes to hospitalizations," emphasizes Auwerx. "In addition, we think that this could be used as a basis for developing a treatment for genetic muscular dystrophy."

If these results are confirmed in humans, there's no question it will attract interest from athletes as well as medical experts. "It will be important for anti-doping authorities to monitor that these treatments are not used in an unauthorized manner," concludes Auwerx.
Provided by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Originally Posted by cowmoo32

I've browsed through your site before and I would love to have your setup. I still have an old Meade 4 or 6" telescope that I got when I was a kid but it's a toy compared to what you've got.


I'm having trouble understanding how the asteroid can take this path across the sky
http://earthsky.org/space/latest-ima...roid-2005-yu55

I love my setup; but I want even higher end equipment!

Um. The asteroid zig zags because. Um.

Because aliens.

Originally Posted by i_ween

I love my setup; but I want even higher end equipment!

Um. The asteroid zig zags because. Um.

Because aliens.

Ian, check out www.physorg.com, there are no less than 5 articles about plasma and fusion today, at least there was when I checked this morning.

Originally Posted by k2pilot

I lol'ed.

Originally Posted by cowmoo32

Ian, check out www.physorg.com, there are no less than 5 articles about plasma and fusion today, at least there was when I checked this morning.

I check in daily, and always the plasma physics section. My dad enthusiastically emailed me an article about work done on the fusion reactor he was involved with back in the day (dublit III) earlier this morning as well.

I'm also meeting with this guy next friday to pick his brain on some plasma propulsion/energy systems, all his work is around the sun/magnetohydrodynamics, but it's still relevant to what i have in mind.

One of the more fascinating fusion systems i've seen relies on generating an ultra dense plasmoid, which the sun does naturally.




Here's a neat animation of their system, i think in this video they're showing boron 11 as the fuel.

Anyone out on Long Island or near NYC? Free talk on Nikola Tesla. Here's an email I got:

For those interested in a free talk on Nikola Tesla, the IEEE is holding
one on December 7th which I plan on attending. Information is here
http://www.ieee.li/calendar/2011_12_07.pdf. This is free and includes
some refreshments. The only caveat is that you must pre-register and
photo ID is required for access to the site.

You can register here
http://www.ieee.li/forms/ssit.htm

Western Black Rhino declared extinct by the IUCN

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-11-10/a...n?_s=PM:AFRICA

Awwwwww yeaaaaaaaa
Neil degrasse Tyson AMA

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comment...sse_tyson_ama/

I know this is offtopic here, but anyone got any strategies to help study for Chemistry? I'm trying to study the gas laws, but can't get them down.

Originally Posted by ODEHBOY

I know this is offtopic here, but anyone got any strategies to help study for Chemistry? I'm trying to study the gas laws, but can't get them down.

Well you only have a couple variables with the gas laws, and there's that nifty constant, so as long as you've got all but one(you'll always be solving for pressure, temp, or volume) then you should be fine. Though you may occasionally need to solve another reaction equation first before you can know the change in temp to get the desired volume or pressure. And since that's the only real difficult part of the process, i suggest that to get good at gas problems, you should master reaction/enthalpy equations.

Originally Posted by DylloS

Awwwwww yeaaaaaaaa
Neil degrasse Tyson AMA

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comment...sse_tyson_ama/

Originally Posted by k2pilot

Well you only have a couple variables with the gas laws, and there's that nifty constant, so as long as you've got all but one(you'll always be solving for pressure, temp, or volume) then you should be fine. Though you may occasionally need to solve another reaction equation first before you can know the change in temp to get the desired volume or pressure. And since that's the only real difficult part of the process, i suggest that to get good at gas problems, you should master reaction/enthalpy equations.

Thanks man,

what would be the easiest way to remember/solve this? It's just so hard cause i have so much i have to remember.

If 50.0ml of a gas is at 5degrees C and a pressure of 760mm of HG, is changed to 55.0 ml at a new pressure of 780mm of HG, then what is the new temp in degrees C?

The good ole days of thermo Jesus that class was boring as hell. I got a lot of drawing done that semester


edit:
NDT for president 2012

f you could add one course to a student's curriculum, what would it be?
permalink
[-]neiltyson[S] 990 points 1 hour ago
Course title every university should offer: "How to tell when someone else is full of ****"

Originally Posted by cowmoo32

The good ole days of thermo Jesus that class was boring as hell. I got a lot of drawing done that semester

I was exposed to alot of it during chemistry, now the only thing I mainly study with the word thermo in it is thermoprocessing

This made me .

Originally Posted by ODEHBOY

Thanks man,

what would be the easiest way to remember/solve this? It's just so hard cause i have so much i have to remember.

If 50.0ml of a gas is at 5degrees C and a pressure of 760mm of HG, is changed to 55.0 ml at a new pressure of 780mm of HG, then what is the new temp in degrees C?

This is a very simple question, just know how to convert mm of HG into to ATM, and then use PV=nRT. Then just plug and chug.

So P is in ATM, V is in Liters(M^3), n is the number of moles(if given a mass, just divide it by the molar mass of it), T is in kelvinm and R is the ideal Gas constant, .082 L atm/(mol K)

and since you're comparing a before after state, these come in useful.

P1 / T1 = P2 / T2
Gay-Lussac's Law

P1V1 = P2V2
Boyle's Law

V1 / T1 = V2 / T2
Charles' Law

V1 / n1 = V2 / n2
Avogadro's Law

This covers everything you need to know with gases, but like i said the hard part will probably be knowing when to involve reactions.

Originally Posted by cowmoo32